Quote: Tresa Hendrix

As much as P.I.T.A. he is, I miss the old Logan.

I'll be sure to remind you that you said that when he's back to being a #### head



Fingers crossed

Was Logan's original problem prostatitis? Infection in the prostate? That is a severe problem, dogs get really sick with that. Post "really sick", dogs loose hair, all protein synthesis being diverted to healing, new hair taking a back burner position. Like after a bitch whelps, she blows her coat.
Post surgery dogs loose hair, also post fever.

I think tribrissen can depress red cell formation, interfere with red cell production. It's also a great antibiotic, though.

I think that you can see a change in some behaviors in older dogs castrated. I have seen diminished drive, more laying around. More sleeping. Not depressed, just relaxed.
If that is what you are seeing, it might be a result of the loss of testosterone.
I guess what I'm trying to say is he might be OK, just neutered. Hope so!

David.... :P!!! Maybe I should just enjoy the peace..but its boring.

Betty, it was prostatitis and yeah he was very sick. He isn't himself, he is clingy and sad, which is not my boy at all. I guess there are several factors here, hormonal changes, recovering from being sick and from surgery.

Does he see the vet soon for a post-surgery checkup?

If I've learned one thing with human and animal diagnosis it is trust your gut.

My last dog was off. I knew he was off. I took him to one vet and they said he was just hot. I took him to another vet, they had me rush him the the teaching hospital with heart arrhythmia due to really bad ehrlichiosis. That saved his life.

So- you know your dog. I would get a second opinion from a trusted vet. You have somewhat of an issue that I didn't have if Logan acts really aggressive at the vet, but I think it is worth that obstacle.

And, to be frank, herbal medicine has its place but if Logan is dealing with an infection or maybe Occam's Razor is wrong and he has something like tick illness on top of it (I've seen weirder things) go with the proven, tested, drugs.

It's just worrying me because my last dog had a weird host of symptoms when he had tick illness, including a blue-colored tongue that would come and go. That can be caused by (duh) heart issues which can be caused by (I didn't know this at the time) tick illness.

I really hope he is feeling better and none of this is a concern any more!

"If I've learned one thing with human and animal diagnosis it is trust your gut."


Yes.


"He isn't himself, he is clingy and sad, which is not my boy at all." It's quite a while post-surgery for him to be like this. I've had dogs neutered, but I haven't seen this 2+ weeks later.

Again, JMO.

Connie he has a check-up next Wed.

Kiersten, he is almost due for his yearly anyway so I may have them go ahead and do the HW/tick disease test next week.

The vet said she doesn't want to see him unless he is drugged, but until I know he is healthy, I can't do that to him. He is fine as long as I am there telling him to chill. If they take him to the back....he goes into Cujo mode. The emergency vet didn't listen and it took them 20 minutes to draw blood with the muzzle on. *sigh* I'm not letting that happen again, its just makes him harder to handle and its stressful.

 Quote: Tresa Hendrix

The vet said she doesn't want to see him unless he is drugged, but until I know he is healthy, I can't do that to him.

Do you know anybody connected to the local police department that can find out if they have a regular vet that treats their dogs? It might be beneficial to get a fresh pair of eyes over what's going on and I'd hate to think that the dog isn't getting a through exam or the correct treatment because the vet is scared of him.

Drugging a dog who's showing some symptoms of heart arrhythmia is not a good idea IMO.

Might a vet who comes to the home be able to handle him if you had him muzzled? I mean YOU are going to have to handle him, the vet is just going to draw the blood and do a physical.

Some dogs are much worse at the clinic. If his mouth is tied shut, seriously tied shut, he has no weapon. Perhaps you could find a visiting vet who might come to the home, some of those folks are really good, have a great hand with patients, they have to.

Kiersten's comments about the tick borne illness are something to consider. Has he had antibiotics which cover tick (the tetracycline class, doxycycline etc). It could be worth just changing antibiotics without blood work. I don't see that it would hurt anything.

We are all just guessing. And thinking of you, though, hoping for the best.



Edited by Betty Landercasp (06/22/2013 07:03 AM)
Edit reason: added more

 Quote: Tresa Hendrix

Connie he has a check-up next Wed.

Kiersten, he is almost due for his yearly anyway so I may have them go ahead and do the HW/tick disease test next week.

The vet said she doesn't want to see him unless he is drugged, but until I know he is healthy, I can't do that to him. He is fine as long as I am there telling him to chill. If they take him to the back....he goes into Cujo mode. The emergency vet didn't listen and it took them 20 minutes to draw blood with the muzzle on. *sigh* I'm not letting that happen again, its just makes him harder to handle and its stressful.

Fama is crazy vet aggressive with some vets, and I learned the hard way to be assertive to the point of being rude to get this across to the vet staff. I would absolutely not allow a vet to take Logan anywhere without you unless he is 100% anesthetized, for the safety of him as well as the vet staff.

All the pictures I find on the internet are just wrong.... so I'll try and explain how to best restrain him for the vet if needed. As Connie mentioned, don't allow his ass-hattery to get in the way of a thorough examination.

Apply muzzle unless they need to get to his snout.

Walk to Logan's left side and face his flank. Kneel on your left knee and place your right knee under his belly against his legs so he can't move his legs forward. Snake your left arm under his chin, around his neck, and back over his neck. Place your left hand on the left side of your own neck. Turn your face away from his head (this will keep your nose where it belongs). Restrain his torso with your right elbow over his back. He's big and you are not, so you may add a leash wrapped in 1 loop around the palm of your right hand with no slack, but not tight. I will emphasize to have the leash around your palm and not your fingers (this will keep your fingers in the shape they belong).

As with anything else, you will want to train this ahead of time with lots of rewards. I have successfully restrained strange dogs like this, that their handler couldn't control, that were in full on freak out / eat the vet mode.



IMO, if he is still off, I wouldn't mess around. I would get him checked out until you get an answer. He's worth it.


There are about 20 military installations in Virginia. Some of them will have veterinary facilities. Some mil vets accept civilian clients. Their vets will be used to jerk dogs for sure. Some mil vets are civilians with private practices as well.

I'm just brainstorming here. This has gone on long enough IMHO.


Sending good stuff your way Tresa and Logan.




eta... I did EVERYTHING to Fama until she was soundly asleep, including drawing blood, giving injections, shaving stuff, whatever. The only thing the vet did was the examination until she was out. Everyone stayed outside her threshold until I said otherwise.

Edited by David Winners (06/22/2013 08:53 AM)
Edit reason: eta